Creating a pull request

Create a pull request to propose and collaborate on changes to a repository. These changes are proposed in a branch, which ensures that the master branch only contains finished and approved work.

Pull requests can only be opened if there are differences between your branch and the upstream branch. You can specify which branch you'd like to merge your changes into when you create your pull request.

If you don't have write access to the repository where you'd like to create a pull request, you must create a fork, or copy, of the repository first. For more information, see "Creating a pull request from a fork" and "About forks."

Note: To open a pull request in a public repository, you must have write access to the head or the source branch or, for organization-owned repositories, you must be a member of the organization that owns the repository to open a pull request.

You can close corresponding issues using a keyword in your pull request or commit message. For more information, see "Closing issues using keywords."

By default, pull requests are based on the parent repository's default branch.

If the default parent repository isn't correct, you can change both the parent repository and the branch with the drop-down lists. You can also swap your head and base branches with the drop-down lists to establish diffs between reference points. References here must be branch names in your GitHub repository.

When thinking about branches, remember that the base branch is where changes should be applied, the head branch contains what you would like to be applied.

When you change the base repository, you also change notifications for the pull request. Everyone that can push to the base repository will receive an email notification and see the new pull request in their dashboard the next time they sign in.

When you change any of the information in the branch range, the Commit and Files changed preview areas will update to show your new range.

Project maintainers can add a pull request template for a repository. Templates include prompts for information in the body of a pull request. For more information, see "About issue and pull request templates."

Use the base branch dropdown menu to select the branch you'd like to merge your changes into, then use the compare branch drop-down menu to choose the topic branch you made your changes in.

Type a title and description for your pull request.

To create a pull request that is ready for review, click Create Pull Request.
To create a draft pull request, use the drop-down and select Create Draft Pull Request, then click Draft Pull Request. For more information about draft pull requests, see "About pull requests."